The present invention relates to ball bearing mounting structure and more particularly to mounting a ball bearing in a stamped housing so as to be retained therein.
Conventionally, ball bearings for motors are mounted in a stamped housing which is not machined to have tight tolerances with ball bearing. With reference to FIG. 1, the ball bearing 10 is mounted using two separate components, a tolerance ring 12 and a retaining ring 14. The tolerance ring 12 is made of corrugated metal and is provided about the periphery of the ball bearing 10 such that the when the ball bearing 10 and tolerance ring 12 are inserted into the housing, the tolerance ring 12 may deform to take-up tolerances between the periphery of the ball bearing 10 and an annular wall of the housing. Thus, the tolerance ring 12 generally centers the ball bearing 10 in the housing and provides radial support. Finally, a self-locking retaining ring 14 is pressed into the housing to engage the annular wall thereof to prevent the ball bearing 10 from moving out of the housing in a direction opposite the insertion direction.
The above-described ball bearing mounting is effective, but it is costly since there are several components to be manufactured and several assembly steps to be performed. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a one-piece ball bearing mounting member which combines the functions of the conventional tolerance ring and retaining ring and is thus less expensive to manufacture and assemble.